Kreative Kontrol

Ep. #144: Man Forever

Post author By vish
Post date November 6, 2014

John Colpitts is a prolific and skilled percussionist based in New York City. Also known as Kid Millions, he’s a founding member of the Brooklyn-based band Oneida who are acclaimed for their euphoric, propulsive, and open-ended rock sound. Over the past four years, Colpitts has been exploring the outer limits of drums under the moniker Man Forever, which often finds him working with notable musicians, starting improvised drum kit circles, and touring the world. His latest release is a collaboration with New York ensemble So Percussion. It’s called Ryonen, it’s out now via Thrill Jockey Records, and has prompted Man Forever to tour different parts of the world, including China, where he has a few shows this week. Here, John and I discuss living in the distinctive area that is Queens New York, Ramones, Ryonen and Wordless Music and connecting with So Percussion, going beyond indie-rock, the two Ryonen tracks “The Clear Realization” and “Ryonen” and why he doesn’t remember what the lyrics are for the former, meditating on detachment, the sky above and drones and surveyors, humans not martians, the utterance of words in relation to the music being played, the thing is the thing, meditation parallels, distractions and drummers getting into the zone, Ryonen the naked girl and the disturbing Zen kōan about Ryonen, the relationship between Zen Buddhism and psychedelia, Music for Children, piano lessons with a terrible teacher, scales, dropping music, listening to Top 40 music until college, damn dirty hippies, how Oneida came to be in Brooklyn, the band Mongrel, Oneida never broke up, I keep missing John in Ontario, where Man Forever came from, Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music, Ulrich Krieger, playing with Yo La Tengo on TV, working with Jim Sauter of pioneering noise band Borbetomagus, playing with the Boredoms in Japan, Oneida is making an album with Rhys Chatham and one of their own too, a People of the North EP called Judge a Man by His Fruits, the record John is making with Bry Webb, the song “The Clear Realization,” and nothing more.

Related links: twitter.com/ManForeverUSA thrilljockey.com vishkhanna.com

Listen, subscribe, rate/review on iTunes.

Podcast: Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Tags Borbetomagus, Boredoms, Bry Webb, Jim Sauter, John Colpitts, Kid Millions, Lou Reed, Man Forever, Oneida, People of the North, Rhys Chatham, Ryonen, So Percussion, Thrill Jockey Records, Ulrich Krieger, Wordless Music, Yo La Tengo, Zen Buddhism, Zen kōans

News Podcast

Ep. #143: Cold Specks

Post author By vish
Post date November 4, 2014

Cold Specks is Al Spx, a talented and fearless singer, musician, and songwriter who calls Montreal home. Originally from a Toronto suburb called Etobicoke, Spx has garnered international attention for her powerful voice, dark-hued lyrics, and post-punk aesthetic, which is all the more unique given the rather folk-oriented feel of her 2012 debut album, I Predict a Graceful Expulsion. In late August, Arts & Crafts and Mute co-released its follow-up, a decidedly more forceful and sinister record called Neuroplasticity. Beginning November 5 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cold Specks is on tour across the world for the foreseeable future but we connected for a candid conversation at the Halifax Pop Explosion last month. The discussion covered topics like living in Montreal and visiting Halifax, Loel Campbell and Tim D’Eon of WIntersleep, living in England, the concept of neuroplasticity and how it might apply to Cold Specks, getting bored, trying to perform songs from I Predict a Graceful Expulsion, destruction of melody and subtle aggression, London and Glastonbury, hills and pagans, corporate witchtowns, no socks, sonic goblin, wearing capes and goth people, the trumpet of Ambrose Akinmusire and the voice of Swans’ Michael Gira, growing up in Etobicoke with her Somali parents, Rob and Doug and the Ford family, not quite apolitical, Al’s oud-playing, soul-singing dad ‘Dr. Love,’ the late, popular Somali singer Saado Ali Warsame, Swans, Bill Callahan, the Strokes, Tom Waits, and Nick Cave, the Strokes on Letterman and emerging after 9/11, the Backstreet Boys have come up on two straight episodes now, having a persona, creative pursuits, loving True Detective, Vince Vaughn, Colin Farrell, and Rachel McAdams, Band of Brothers, shooting a cannon at The Nutcracker, meeting Joni Mitchell who is awesome, the art of the interview, yelling at a Q guest host and other bad journalists, why I talk to people, being and not being a diva, touring a lot behind a record that came out kind of quietly, the Hotel2Tango and Howard Bilerman, why Montreal is good, not wanting to interact with anybody, the song “Absisto,” a nervous breakdown, and then the exit plan.

Related links: coldspecks.com halifaxpopexplosion.com vishkhanna.com

Listen, subscribe, rate/review on iTunes.

Podcast: Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

News Podcast

Ep. #142: Ryan Hemsworth & BADBADNOTGOOD Live at the Halifax Pop Explosion

Post author By vish
Post date October 30, 2014

Ryan Hemsworth and BADBADNOTGOOD each appeared at the 2014 Halifax Pop Explosion last week and we took part in a live, panel interview together at the Museum of Natural History. Ryan’s a talented electronic artist who originally hails from Halifax and whose new record, Alone for the First Time, is out November 4 via Last Gang Records. Keyboardist Matt Tavares, bassist Chester Hansen, and drummer Alex Sowinski are the brains behind BBNG, a popular instrumental hip-hop trio from Toronto whose latest album, III, is out now via Innovative Leisure and whose new collaborative album with Ghostface Killah, Sour Soul, is due out this February. Here, we discuss first encounters with the internet, dial-up and ICQ, Duke Nukem, Goldeneye and N64 and instructions, Napster, having a strong but casual social media presence, being online and sharing things all of the time, the importance of twitter, shy and quiet irl, virtual trolling and real-life confrontation, how BBNG posted a video of an Odd Future cover song online and it blew up, Alex is extroverted and smart, being angry at Lenny Kravitz, Ryan’s label Secret Songs and its connection to finding music on Soundcloud, crate digging and Muchmusic, Nelly and porn, ogg, why hip-hop, electronic and computer sounds perk Ryan’s ears up, soaking in music and putting it back out, BBNG drinking Ryan’s rider, how BBNG got together, great Indian food in Mississauga, MF Doom and Humber, Chester Hansen is pretty great, jazz time and hip-hop time, what’s the deal with rap shows, a surprise but delayed collaboration with Ghostface Killah and Raekwon, fusion ska, hardcore punk scenes within Toronto suburbs, loving the Backstreet Boys and Blink 182, Travis Barker, Matt loved Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Dinosaur Jr., Ryan’s life in Halifax, playing guitar and singing badly, the stifling creative environment in music institutions, rude messages from music teachers, BBNG got no kick against modern jazz, heroin or something crazy, Tom Grosset, Ryan’s journalism studies in Halifax, media manipulation, putting music out there, the rave cruise Holy Ship, not having an EDM moniker, freaking out about Ghost and Rae, the BBNG Slick Rick story, Ryan’s new album Alone for the First Time, looking up to Caribou and James Blake, the song “Surrounded,” the BBNG/Ghostface collab album Sour Soul, Ghost wants to play music like he’s flipping channels, Ryan’s song “Snow in Newark,” Flea and Kobe, BADBADNOTGOOD’s song “Velvet,” and that was it.

Related links: ryanhemsworth.com badbadnotgood.com halifaxpopexplosion.com vishkhanna.com

Listen, subscribe, rate/review on iTunes.

Podcast: Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS